Taiwan’s housing price index grew 1.82 percent to 133.18 in the third quarter of last year, when mortgage burdens picked up 0.16 percent from the second quarter to 42.25 percent of average household income, indicating that housing unaffordability sharpened, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday.
The reading represented a 5.42 percent hike compared with a year earlier, although the pace eased slightly for five consecutive quarters, the ministry found.
Overall, the house price-to-income ratio climbed to 9.82 times the average of household income nationwide, also a new high.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
The trend ran counter to joint efforts by policymakers to facilitate a soft landing for house prices, as housing unaffordability has long topped the public’s complaint, especially among young people.
Solid real demand and building material price hikes lent support to home prices, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
The government’s introduction in August last year of interest rate subsidies for first-home purchases put an end to a year-long slowdown caused by unfavorable measures and monetary tightening, Tseng said.
Meanwhile, housing transactions totaled 79,812 units nationwide from July to September, rising 6.91 percent from three months earlier and 9.14 percent from a year earlier, affirming a recovery, the ministry’s Web site showed.
The mortgage burden was highest at 67.13 percent in Taipei, where house prices spiked to 15.67 times household income, it showed.
The mortgage burden in New Taipei City stood at 55.35 percent, after house prices increased to 12.92 times household income, the ministry said.
The government deems mortgage burdens of 30 percent as reasonable, 30 to 40 percent as relatively high, and more than 50 percent as overly high.
Affordability in Taichung joined the “ultra-low” category as house prices constituted 11.74 times household income and the mortgage burden grew to 50.32 percent, it said.
Developers have in recent years introduced new luxury apartment complexes in Taichung to take advantage of its metro system and other improving infrastructure facilities.
Affordability in Tainan and Kaohsiung was relatively low, with mortgage burdens standing at 40.67 percent and 39.74 percent respectively after house prices climbed to 9.49 times and 9.27 times household income, the ministry said.
Mortgage burdens were also high in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Taitung, Hualien and Yilan, in addition to the outlying counties of Penghu and Kinmen, it said.
By contrast, affordability was reasonable in Keelung, as well as in Pingtung and Chiayi counties, it said.
Supply and demand would dominate the housing market’s direction after political uncertainty linked to the presidential election settled, Sinyi said.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS